Volkswagen Forum recommend

[whale]

Can anyone give me a good VW forum recommend? Wifey's passat is playing hell.

If it helps any, it's a 2004 Passat 1.8T

Thanks,
Will

 

[Chris M]

Whale,
If you do fined one please let me know. I have been looking for the past 10 months. My bought my son a 1995 Cabrio to run back and forth to college. The only good tec data I can find is the alldata account I have.
You would think there be something like The Ranger Station for VW's.

Regards,
Chris M.

 

[Tedybear]

http://volkswagenforum.com/forum/

Just the first hit on a Google Search. Not sure how good they are.....

S-

 

[martin]

Just pull the codes and post the problems here, you might get lucky. Many of the guys on here work on other vehicles that are not rbv's. I know the 1.8t's of that year had an issue with ignition systems, they recalled some of them and changed coils and modules.

 

[Elutheros]

I use VWVortex a lot. Lots of good information for common issues on my 2005.5 Jetta.

 

[whale]

I'm seeing the vortex one come up here and there. Also waiting to see what forum my neighbor used, he had a 02' Jetta.

This problem is sensor related, and not engine trouble.

The other problem with pulling codes is, after 12mph, the wheel sensors stop sending signal, which is the way they were designed, I'm told (shop called VW about this.) It's a real stumper.

At speed, raging between 60-70ish, the wheel will start to occilate, as if the ESP (Electronic Stability Program) is trying to compensate for road conditions that aren't there. No idiot lights come up, nothing while it is happening.

Upon inspection, last time, one of the steering wheel sensors had scuffs on it, possibly indicating that it was not set to the right depth in relation to the exciter ring. I instructed the shop to replace both front wheel sensors. Problem has manifested again.

I'm not a "parts changer", and the shop isn't either but between our discussions, just couldn't arrive at any other conclusion.

I now have a stronger suspicion that the re-man half shafts are the culprit.

It should be noted that I did distincly hear a cyclical metal on metal noise while taking an easy off ramp right turn, coming from the passenger side. The wifey reported this noise the first time the problem happened.

I could rant about all these saftey / enhanced driving systems in modern cars, but I won't.

Thanks for the input sofar,
Will

 

[martin]

I assume you've checked things like wheel bearings and ball joints, it doesn't take much to upset some of these newer systems.

 

[whale]

Everything seems tight up front. Outside of this problem, thing rides like a sheet of glass.

 

[robertc1024]

I'm kind of like you in thinking about the half-axles. I'm sure you know that CV joints start doing the clicking you are talking about when they're going bad. I had to replace the ones on my Maxima and the noise was quite distinct at low speeds and got worse the tighter the turning radius. While researching it, I also heard a number of horror stories about how cheapo rebuilds led to vibration problems at speed.

 

[whale]

Just a follow-up on this, if anyone was interested...

The halfshafts were replaced with new VW units. The tone ring from reman to OEM micrometered at 80thousands different.

We were able to get the car to "act up" on command at certain speeds. When the new units were installed, we were not able to make that happen.

Wifey reports that the car has been running good since the work.

If I remember, I'll give maybe a 1 or 2 month followup.

Will

 

[whale]

I'm kind of like you in thinking about the half-axles. I'm sure you know that CV joints start doing the clicking you are talking about when they're going bad. I had to replace the ones on my Maxima and the noise was quite distinct at low speeds and got worse the tighter the turning radius. While researching it, I also heard a number of horror stories about how cheapo rebuilds led to vibration problems at speed.

I hear ya. The bummer with these was they wern't wearing out or clicking. I think now that when "fresh" they exhibited the 59.5mph problem that was reported by other mechanics. Now that they've been on for a couple years, and have worn a bit, it started causing these more severe problems.

I guess it's only money, right?